Pharmacology Part 1

Question 1

Define pharmacodynamics?

Answer 1

What a drug does to the body (biological effects and mechanisms of action)

Question 2

Define pharmacokinetics?

Answer 2

What the body does to a drug (absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of drugs and their metabolites)

Question 3

What is the narrow definition of a drug?

Answer 3

Any single use synthetic, or natural,, substance of known structure used in the treatment, prevention, or diagnosis of a disease

Question 4

Define a medicine

Answer 4

A chemical preparation containing one or more drugs used with the intention of causing a therapeutic effect.

Question 5

What must a drug be in order to be a useful therapeutic agent?

Answer 5

Selective

Question 6

What does drug selectivity result from?

Answer 6

The chemical structure of the drug (binding site)

The target containing only ligands of a precise structure (ligand specificity)

Question 7

What regulatory proteins do drugs bind to?

Answer 7

Enzymes

Carrier molecules (transporters and pumps)

Ion channels

Receptors

Question 8

What non-regulatory proteins can drugs bind to?

Answer 8

RNA

DNA

Question 9

Define a receptor

Answer 9

Macromolecules that mediate the biological actions of hormones and neurotransmitters

Question 10

Define an agonist drug

Answer 10

Binds to receptor to produce a cellular response

Question 11

Define an antagonist drug

Answer 11

Blocks the actions of an agonist by binding to the same receptor

Question 12

Describe the action of adrenaline

Answer 12

Binds to receptors (B-adrenoreceptors) in the heart to increase cardiac rate. It is an agonist.

Question 13

Describe the action of B-blockers

Answer 13

Class of synthetic drug that bind to B-adrenoreceptors in the heart to block the binding of adrenaline- they are antagonists and prevent the increase in cardiac rate and force

Question 14

What do agonists possess?

Answer 14

Affinity and Efficacy

Question 15

Define agonist affinity?

Answer 15

The strength of association between a ligand and receptor determined by chemical bonds

Question 16

Define agonist efficacy?

Answer 16

The ability of an agonist to evoke a cellular response

Question 17

What do agonists and antagonists do when they bind to receptors?

Answer 17

Agonists: Activate

Antagonists: bind

Question 18

What do antagonists possess?

Answer 18

Affinity but lack efficacy

Question 19

Describe the relationship of concentration (or dose) and response

Answer 19

It is hyperbolic

Question 20

What is EC50

Answer 20

The concentration of agonist that elicits half maximal response

Question 21

Describe the relationship between agonist concentration (or dose) and response on a semi-logarithmic plot?

Answer 21

Sigmoidal

Question 22

What is potency?

Answer 22

The concentration of a drug required to achieve a response

Question 23

How does competitive antagonism occur?

Answer 23

When the binding of the agonist and antagonist occur at the same (orthosteric) site

Question 24

When does non-competitive antagonism occur?

Answer 24

When the agonist binds to the orthosteric site and antagonist binds to the allosteric site, so both may bind simultaneously but activation cannot occur when the antagonist is bound

Question 25

What do competitive antagonist do to the response curve?

Answer 25

Cause a parallel rightward shift of the agonist concentration response curve with no depression of the maximal response.

Question 26

What do non-competitive antagonists do to the response curve?

Answer 26

Depress the slope and the maximum response response of the curve. Do not cause a rightward shift.